Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Thu, Jun 11 1992 Date: Thu, 11 Jun 92 05:20:27 EDT Message-ID: 06-11 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update June 11, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network THE HALF-CENTURY IS FASHIONABLE: The boomers must be aging. A sure sign: It's suddenly hip to be 50. Nick Nolte at 51 is People magazine's sexiest man alive, a distinction that has gone to younger men like Tom Cruise in the past. Gloria Steinem discovers her personal self at 58. And ex-Beatle Paul McCartney isn't 64 yet - but he turns 50 next week. And folks are finding out that 50 can feel pretty good. (For more, see special 50 package below.) MORE FOLKS SAY TALK AT THE BEEP: The percentage of households with answering machines is on the rise, according to The Roper Reports Research Service. In 1981, just 3% of households had them. But by 1986, that percentage had topped 10% and hit 25% by 1989. In 1991, 28% of households were instructing callers to leave a message at the tone. PULL OUT THE BLUE JEANS: More and more companies allow their employees to wear casual clothes to the office, according to a survey by Evans Research Associates for the Levi Strauss company. In a nationwide survey, two-thirds agreed that there is a trend toward casual dress in the workplace. The most likely places to find a casual dress policy is in manufacturing and education. Least likely: Finance. MORE WOMEN LEAD COLLEGES: The number of women presidents at U.S. colleges has hit an all-time high of 348, but that's just 12% of chief executives at the nation's 3,000 institutions, says the American Council on Education. The numbers show a "slow, steady ascent," the council says, since it first kept records in 1975. States with the most women presidents: New York (39), California (37). HOTELS TRY GREEN MOVES: An ecology program at Boston's Park Plaza has reached every level from the kitchen to the offices, where foam cups have been banned. The hotel is on the leading edge of change in the hotel industry. The Loews Hotels chain is recycling paper and installing energy-saving equipment. Ramada International Hotels & Resorts has been donating money to environmental groups. SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS - FAST: The new buzzword in therapy is fast, reports the July issue of Mademoiselle. More patients and therapists are looking at four- or five-session therapy to iron out the psyche's wrinkles. It's not new, but it's been enjoying a revival. In 1992, a third to a fifth of all psychotherapists practice some form of brief therapy, says San Diego-based clinical psychologist Michael Yapko, Ph.D. INTEREST HAS ZOOMED: Interest in brief therapy has increased "at least a thousand percent" in the last decade, clinical psychologist Michael Yapko, Ph.D., tells Mademoiselle. Experts believe the practice fits the times. Folks have a preference today for quick fixes; also, people are broke. And more insurance carriers and health-maintenance organizations are refusing now to bankroll years of therapy. MORE YOUTHS ARRESTED FOR MURDER: More juveniles are being arrested for murder, according to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. In 1990, with the most recent data available, there were 2,555 youths under 18 arrested for murder, up from 2,208 in 1989. The figure decreased each year between 1982 and 1984 but has climbed by at least 85 every year since then. BANKS SET EARNING RECORD: The nation's commercial banks earned a record $7.6 billion the first three months of this year, continuing a recovery that started last year. Earnings for the USA's 11,806 banks were up 36% from first-quarter 1991. More than 93% of banks made money and 73% said earnings increased last quarter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported Wednesday. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON 50: FIFTY NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE: Age 50 is becoming trendy. There are 77 million baby boomers wading through their 40s now to that distant shore - in about four years, the first ones will hit the beachhead. Already trendmeisters are dusting off the crystal balls and predicting boomers will bring to the 50s the "youthfulness and vigor" that characterize the generation, says author Ross Goldstein. BOOMERS ARE RESTLESS: Goldstein, author of "Fortysomething" (Tarcher, $18.95), says boomers haven't ever really settled down as have other generations. Not only that, "We have been raised with an expectation of self-fulfillment as a birthright," he says. Forties will "continue to do whatever we want at 50." The 50s now are beginning to be a topic of study, reports psychologist Daniel Levinson of Yale. PERSPECTIVE WILL SHIFT: The 50s are a time for women "who have devoted themselves to family to focus on themselves, to take charge of their lives," says Sonya Rhodes, author of "Second Honeymoon: A Pioneering Guide for Reviving the Midlife Marriage" (Morrow, $20). Regardless of gender, 50s find their perspective is shifting, even when their waistlines are not. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. 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